The Next Generation Missing Scene Series
by Eydie Munroe
Summary: There always seems to be a missing scene or two between plot points. These fill in the gaps in a variety of episodes, just like the Voyager Missing Scene Series. More episodes to come as I review the TNG series again.
1. Episode 1x01 Encounter at Farmpoint

**The Next Generation Missing Scenes Series**

**Episode 1x01 – Encounter at Farpoint**

Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belong to Paramount and CBS. I'm just writing the bits that TPTB seemed to have missed.

Note: These are the missing scenes after Wesley's disastrous trip to the bridge.

* * *

Wesley stood with his back pressed against the turbolift wall, his eyes fixed firmly on his shoes. In front of him, his mother paced through the small space with barely contained anger. "I'm sorry, Mom," he finally ventured to say without looking at her. "I didn't mean to –"

"I shouldn't have let you talk me into bringing you to the bridge," she muttered, not really hearing him. "It was a stupid idea." Beverly looked at him as soon as the words flew out of her mouth, her ire calming just a little. "I shouldn't use that word. But it still wasn't a good idea."

Her son finally looked up at her. "I don't understand. He was being nice at first, and then…"

She could see how upset he actually was, and for a moment had forgotten his sensitive nature. "Wesley, don't get too worried," she told him, her expression softening. "You surprised him. It's been a long time since he's seen you, and…he was never really comfortable around children to begin with."

Wesley finally relaxed a little bit. "I'm sorry if I got you into trouble, Mom."

Beverly rested a hand on her son's shoulder, trying to keep her voice even. She didn't want to let her son hear the anticipation she felt at having a chance to put Jean-Luc Picard in his place; not just for today, but for the way he had run away from her when she'd needed her friend most. "I can handle Captain Picard."

They rode in silence for a few moments, feeling the lift change from travelling vertically to horizontally. "Do you think we'll be allowed to stay on the Enterprise?" he suddenly asked her.

She had been busy reviewing what had happened on the bridge, and his question startled her a bit. "Oh, I think so."

* * *

The alien vessel was the key to the mystery of Farpoint – Picard knew it. But until Riker and his team beamed over to examine it, he wouldn't have the final pieces of the puzzle he needed. So the captain entered the turbolift after Q's latest taunting, using the travel time to settle his thoughts again.

It had been nearly ten years since he'd seen Beverly and Wesley, the last time being the day after Jack's funeral. He had wanted to stay for a little while longer, to try and assist her in her grieving process, but he had realized during the night that his desire to stay was actually only about finding absolution for himself. He had only ever felt comfortable around her when Jack was with them; now that he was gone, the usually secure captain had found himself to be nothing but a bundle of nervous tension. He had known he could only be incredibly awkward around her. So he beat a hasty retreat, telling her that Starfleet had called him back to duty days before he was scheduled to go. That was the last time they had spoken.

Jean-Luc rested his head back against the wall of the lift for a moment, closing his eyes as he thought of what to say. The look that she had shot him just before stepping back into the turbolift with Wesley had been just a flash of the temper he knew she was capable of. With any other doctor in the service, he wouldn't have cared – but with her, it was a bad start. He could feel the same nervous tension building in his stomach that he had felt that final day when he'd told her he was leaving, reminding him of the guilt that he still felt about Jack's death, and about his love for Jack's wife. It reinforced his reaction when he'd first seen her name on the assignments roster. Having her there was going to be a bad idea, personally and professionally.

He stood upright again as the lift slowed, nodding to himself as he prepared himself to apologize to her in Sickbay. He would offer her the chance to transfer off the ship, convinced that her leaving was the best way to save them all a lot of grief.


	2. Episode 1x03 The Naked Now

The Next Generation Missing Scene Series

Episode 1x03 – The Naked Now

Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belong to Paramount and CBS. I'm just writing the bits that TPTB seemed to have missed.

Note: This is the missing scene at the end of the episode, which explains why we never see Chief Engineer Sarah MacDougal again.

* * *

_That damned kid._

The Enterprise-D's first chief engineer couldn't help the thought that kept repeating through her head. After four years at the Academy, another three years studying experimental starship propulsion, eight years of working her way up and finally arriving at her dream posting two weeks ago, Lieutenant Commander Sarah MacDougal had been bested by a 14-year-old child.

The idea gnawed at her. She had been studying her craft for longer than Wesley Crusher had been alive, and he'd managed to do in mere minutes things that she knew would have taken her months. _"Why not just see it in your head?"_ he had asked her, that irritating gleam of genius flashing in his eyes.

She suddenly looked down at the console in front of her, realizing that her mind had wandered off what was usually a simple task for the ninth time now. Throwing down the padd she held in disgust, Sarah pushed her chair back and jumped to her feet, turning the engineering department over to Jim Shimoda before striding into the nearest turbolift.

* * *

At his desk, Commander Riker sat with his head held in his hands, his eyes tightly closed. He still had a residual headache after the near miss with the stellar debris and the mystery disease that had caused it, but didn't want to go to Sickbay for it. He'd only known the new CMO for a handful of days now, and even though he had taken an instant liking to her, he certainly was not interested in the lecture and resulting test regimen that would surely have followed his request for pain relief. After a few more moments of solace, he turned back to the report that he was working on, wondering for the hundredth time what the best format would be to effectively communicate with his new captain.

The door chime interrupted him before he was three words in. "Come in," he called automatically, pressing the button to deactivate his console. Riker looked up to see a tense chief engineer hesitantly step into his office. "What can I do for you, Sarah?" he asked, using her first name to try and set her a little more at ease.

She came to attention in front of his desk, her eyes boring into the wall behind him. "Sir, I need to request a transfer…off the Enterprise."

"At ease, Commander." The first officer sat back in his chair as he watched her shift position, noticing that she really didn't ease up at all. He gestured for her to have a seat, then rested his elbows on the edge of the desk as he spoke. "You've only been here a couple of weeks. Is something wrong?" he asked, thinking that perhaps it was a personal problem rather than one on the ship.

MacDougal sighed heavily. "I – I don't know what I'm doing here, sir." She was quiet for a moment, trying to gather her spinning thoughts. "I was sure I was ready for this job. Chief engineer of the flagship was too good an opportunity to pass up. Everybody told me that I was more than qualified. Hell, my last captain practically shoved me into the transporter to get me here." She settled down a little bit more when Riker chuckled, knowing that sort of encouragement all too well from personal experience. With another sigh she confessed, "But it's not turning out exactly as I thought it would."

He fixed her with a look. "Does this have something to do with young Mr. Crusher?"

She nodded, a flush of embarrassment coloring her cheeks. "I don't think that kid sees in schematics and technical specifications. He must think like he's living inside the system. He was talking about things that engineers at Headquarters are only able to speak about theoretically."

"He is brilliant, I'll give you that," he agreed, "but that doesn't mean that you're not qualified to be here. As a matter of fact, you're one of the most qualified engineers I've ever worked with."

"Well, I appreciate you saying that, sir," she said quietly, her gaze falling onto the surface of the desk. "But I haven't been feeling sure of myself for a while now. I think I need to take a step back."

Riker considered her words before he spoke again. "Well if you decide that taking another assignment is best for you, then of course I'll approve a transfer. But you need to think long and hard about this, Sarah. Assignments on the Federation flagship don't exactly come along every day, and you haven't even had a day to think about it."

The engineer looked up at him. "That's just it, sir. I've been thinking about it ever since I left the _Epiphany_. I was comfortable there – I knew exactly what I was doing, and I was in charge. Here, I'm jumpy, I'm exhausted…I cringe at the very idea of having to speak to the captain…" She let out one final sigh. "I'm just not happy, Commander."

After a long while, he finally nodded his approval. "Very well. I'll set it up for you." He stood and she rose up to meet him, taking the hand that he offered to her. "The Enterprise is losing a fine engineer, Commander. We're sorry to lose you."

She squared her shoulders as she shook his hand, her chin rising just a little as her confidence started to come back. "Thank you, sir. It's been an honor."

The first officer let go of her hand. "Dismissed." Riker watched her until she disappeared through the door, then sank down into his chair and activated his computer console once again. His report to the captain forgotten for the moment, he immediately started on the forms that he would need to transfer MacDougal off and get a new chief engineer onto the ship. It wasn't his favorite part of the job, but he knew that an unhappy member of the senior staff was no good to the ship at all.


	3. Episode 1x04 Code of Honor

Episode 1x04 – Code of Honor

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belong to Paramount and CBS. I'm just writing the bits that TPTB seemed to have missed.

Note: This is the missing scene after Lieutenant Yar strikes a death blow to Yareena, and before Captain Picard brings Lutan and Hagon on board the Enterprise.

* * *

Doctor Crusher sat back on her heels, a held breath escaping her as her tricorder sounded a strong, steady series of beeps. "Got her!"

On the deck below the transporter platform, the first officer also let out a sigh of relief. Looking over to the security chief, he asked, "You alright, Lieutenant?"

Yar's eyes suddenly lifted from her victim to her superior, and she forced down the guilt that filled her. "I'm fine, sir."

They were interrupted by the CMO's order to the transporter chief. "Beam us to Sickbay."

"Yes, sir." The doctor and her patient disappeared instantly.

Data turned around to retrieve the container that Worf had secured earlier, lifting the hinged lid as he stepped onto the transporter platform. Tasha was still kneeling there, obviously shaken by what happened. "Lieutenant?" he said, offering her his hand.

She looked up at him, surprised at the gesture from him. They hadn't really spoken much since their "incident" a few weeks earlier. Wiping the perspiration from her forehead with the back of her sleeve, she took his hand and let him help her to her feet. "Thanks, Data."

"Data, bring the weapon to Sickbay," Riker ordered as he stepped toward the door, holding it open for the other two. "I'm sure Doctor Crusher will want to examine it."

"Aye, sir." The android knelt down and picked up Tasha's mace-like weapon and placed it in the container, then closed and secured the lid before joining the first officer and security chief in the corridor.

By the time that they reached Sickbay, the doctor was much more relaxed as she tended to her patient, who was still unconscious, but was now resting comfortably on the main biobed. "Report, Doctor," Riker ordered as they strode in.

"She's out of danger," Crusher responded, her gaze fixed on the monitor readouts on the wall panels. She then took a hypospray from the nurse that was waiting at the head of the bed and pressed it into Yareena's neck. "While the poison is incredibly lethal," she continued, now facing Riker, "it's a simple plant-based derivative that was fairly easy to counteract. She'll be up and around in no time." Now looking over at Tasha, she questioned, "Were you injured at all?"

Yar shook her head. "A few bumps and bruises, but nothing serious." As she spoke, a painful spasm ripped through the muscles in her back and shoulders, making her visibly wince. She saw by the look that the CMO was giving her that she wouldn't be able to deny it, so she didn't even bother. "Okay, I'm going to hurt tomorrow."

Crusher glanced over to a tall Vulcan in the corner, who nodded and made her way over to the security chief. "Let me take a look at you," Doctor Selar said, laying a gentle hand on Tasha's arm as she led her over to a nearby bed.

"So what happens now?" Riker asked as he and Data stepped closer to the formerly dead woman.

Glancing at the readouts once again, Crusher confirmed, "She's in the clear now. Without intervention, I'd say she'd sleep for about another six hours, but we can wake her any time." She looked over to Data, and to the case he was carrying. "Is that the weapon?"

"Yes Doctor." He rested the box on the bed next to the patient's feet and lifted the lid so she could scan it.

As she waved her tricorder over it, Beverly growled under her breath. "This is barbaric!"

"It is their traditional fighting weapon, Doctor," Data helpfully added.

She shot him a dirty look. "It may be tradition, Data, but it doesn't make it any less brutal." Looking down at her patient, she felt a pang of sympathy for her. "What happens to her now?"

Riker knew how she felt – he didn't feel any happier about the Ligonians' traditions than she did. "Well according to our research," he said, "her marriage to Lutan ended the moment she died. And when a wife dies in their culture, her lands and wealth pass to her husband."

"And the vaccine?"

They all looked at one another. "Since Tasha won the contest, Lutan thinks that he's getting her as a wife, and he _should_ hand over the vaccine."

Crusher nodded. "We should get moving then. Every moment we wait means more deaths on Styris IV."

The first officer grimaced. "Agreed. Wake her."

The doctor placed the used hypospray on a nearby equipment tray and traded it for another, loaded with a stimulant that she now administered. It took a few moments, but Yareena's eyelids fluttered, and she drew a deep, involuntary breath as they finally opened. At first, everything was a blur, including her vision and her memories. But then it all came back to her – Lutan's throwing her over for the pale offworlder, her issue of the challenge, and the fight that she was clearly winning until…

_If this is death, then I've been sorely misled,_ she thought to herself. Taking a few more deep breaths, she forced herself to look around and see what the afterlife was like. When she realized that she was surrounded by more pale humans and an even paler machine, she started suddenly, raising herself on elbows and heels as she tried to back herself away from the Starfleet officers. The nurse that was still standing at the head of the bed stopped her, firm hands on her shoulders holding her in place before she could fling herself off the bed. "What is this?" she angrily demanded, eyes wide in terror as she looked from one person to the next.

"It's alright," Beverly tried to soothe her. "You're on the Enterprise."

"How did I get here?" Yareena snapped, her panic not at all diminished.

"You were struck by Lieutenant Yar during the fight," Riker added.

"Impossible!" she roared, continuing to struggle. An orderly ran over from the other wide of the ward to help, his large hands dwarfing her tiny arms as he held her down. "You have interfered in the challenge!"

"Not at all," Data tried to help. "The challenge ended when Lieutenant Yar dealt a blow to you with her weapon. You were killed instantly."

No one else said anything, just watching Yareena as their words hit her. The Ligonian woman seemed to think about this for a moment or two before concluding, "Then I am dead."

By this time, Doctor Selar had finished treating Tasha, and the security chief now brought herself into the conversation. "No," she told her fellow combatant, staying a step behind Riker so that she wouldn't appear threatening. "Not anymore."

Yareena glared at her and was going to launch herself in attack, but the firm grips on her told her she wasn't going to be able to. "This is sorcery!" she spat at Yar. "The weapon is lethal!"

"You did die from the poison on the spines," Crusher explained to her, "but I was able to counteract it with an antidote. After that, we revived you." Seeing that her patient didn't understand the word 'revive', she added, "I brought you back to life."

She finally stopped struggling, now realizing what the redheaded woman had just told her. Death was something that she had always been taught was permanent; once someone crossed its threshold, they could never come back. And what worldly goods they left behind transferred to someone else by Ligonian law. In her case, her riches would go to Lutan for him to do with as he wished. It was quiet again as the patient took in all the information. "How long was I dead?" she eventually asked, her voice now softened with fear and a little wonder at what she had just been told.

Beverly checked the watch on her wrist. "About two minutes."

"Long enough to end your marriage to Lutan," Tasha solemnly added.

Yareena's eyes flew back to her opponent, but the ire from before was absent. "Then I have lost everything," she murmured sadly.

The human officers all looked at each other, the same idea hitting them all at once. Beverly smiled slyly at Riker when she said softly, "Maybe not."

Her patient frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Data," the doctor questioned, "What happens under Ligonian law when a wife dies?"

"Her lands and wealth immediately transfer to her husband," he promptly answered, not understanding what she was getting at.

But the first officer did. "And what has happened in the past when a wife is killed and then brought back to life?"

Data stared at him, now even more confused since he knew Riker already knew the answer. "According to records we received, no situation of this kind has ever happened on Ligon before, sir."

"Then it would seem," Riker added, "that this case could set a new precedent. Wouldn't you agree?"

The android gave him a clumsy, mimicked nod as recognition finally hit him. "Indeed, sir."

But Data wasn't the only one that got it. Yareena's expression suddenly changed, hope now filling her face as she thought about it. "Perhaps you are right…" she said slowly as an idea started forming. Then, drawing herself out of the orderly and nurse's hands and sliding off bed to her feet, she announced, "I wish to see Lutan."

Riker couldn't help but smile a little. "I thought you might." Tapping his communicator, he called, "Riker to Captain."

"_Picard here."_

"Since you fulfilled your agreement, Captain," the first officer continued, his gaze flicking over to Beverly, "can we now beam the vaccine aboard?"

Lutan's voice sounded a little flustered when it came in through Picard's communicator. _"Ah yes. Of course."_

Beverly sighed in relief. At least now they were going to get what they came for.

"_No problem, Number One. Send down a medical team."_

Will nodded to Doctor Crusher, who immediately collected Selar and moved off to get her team going. He started for the doors, indicating that Yareena should follow him. "And to complete our business here...we are locked onto you."

There was a pause on the other end, and Riker knew that the plan his captain had come up with was falling in place just as it should. _"Five to beam up. Energize."_

Data walked a few paces behind Yareena and Riker as they headed for the bridge conference lounge. "Data to Transporter Room Two," he called out. "Energize."

Yareena had watched all of this with keen interest. "Where are we going?" she questioned.

Commander Riker stopped at the doors to a turbolift and touched the controls. "The captain is bringing Lutan to our conference room. He anticipated that you would want to meet with him after the challenge ended if you lost."

She bristled at the implication that she lost the fight. But it did remind her that her first one had effectively betrayed her for the Enterprise's security chief. "Your captain is a wise man," she said with tightly reigned anger.

Doctor Crusher and Lieutenant Yar caught up to them just as the turbolift doors opened. Riker frowned when he saw the closed storage case stuffed under the doctor's arm. "Why did you bring that along?"

Beverly's face was a practiced one of pure innocence. "Insurance."

He suppressed a chuckle as they all stepped into the lift. Yes, he definitely liked Beverly Crusher. "Bridge," he called out, shaking his head a little as they rode to meet the captain's party.


	4. Episode 1x05 The Last Outpost

Episode 1x05 – The Last Outpost

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belong to Paramount and CBS. I'm just writing the bits that TPTB seemed to have missed.

Note: These are the missing scenes before Captain Picard's first visit to the emergency gathering station. It's always bugged me that he thanked the young mystery crewman with the gold ribbon braided into her hair, when we don't see her before or after that in the episode.

* * *

After Captain Picard approved the CMO's request to start moving non-essential personnel to the ship's designated emergency zones, he consulted with Engineering to reconfirm how fast their power reserves were being drained, and how long life support could be expected to hold out. The news was not at all promising, and what normally would have been months was now estimated to be only days, less if they tried any more escape ploys.

"Computer, locate Doctor Crusher," he called as he walked out of Engineering.

_"Doctor Crusher is in Multi-Purpose Area 3G."_

Fortunately the turbolifts were still working, so it only took a few minutes for him to make it up to Deck 3. The large public area was already filled with people, mostly civilians and their children since the Starfleet personnel were still on duty. Doctor Crusher was moving from group to group, examining hands and feet to make sure that so far, nobody was suffering any ill effects from the dropping temperatures. He waited until she finished re-tucking a blanket around a young girl and her mother, then approached her and pulled her slightly aside. "How are things going here?"

"So far, no injuries or hypothermia," she reported, pulling her lab coat more tightly around her body. "Everybody's just cold as hell."

He gravely nodded. "Well, the word from Engineering is that we've only got about five days of reserve energy left. We're going to need to shut down non-essential decks and relocate all remaining personnel to the emergency areas if we're going to extend it any further than that."

That was going to make her job more difficult; having to crawl through Jeffries tubes to move between one area and the next to continue checking on the crew was going to slow her down considerably. "I agree," she told him. "At it is, I don't think we have much choice."

"Alright. I'll be on the bridge if you need me." He turned and started to head for the corridor, but his attention was grabbed when the door on the far side of the room slid open to admit a young officer, obviously distressed as she scanned everyone. When she turned away from him, he noticed the gold ribbon that had been braided into her hair, and it helped him recognize her – Lieutenant Yolanda Bates, head of the ship's school. She looked frantic, rubbing her hands together more from fear than from the cold. He was about to summon Counsellor Troi when their eyes locked, and since Troi was already crouched down with a pair of children, apparently deep into trying to comfort them, he walked over to her himself. "Status, Lieutenant?"

"A couple of children gave their teacher the slip when he was bringing his class down here," she reported, giving him only a cursory glance before going back to scanning the room. "We're searching the ship, but I came back here to see if they maybe wandered in while we were looking for them."

The captain suppressed a sigh, pushing his usual reservations about having children on starships back down to where he kept other orders from Starfleet that he didn't agree with. "Where were they when the teacher realized they were gone?"

"Deck Ten." She did let out a sigh, now absently rubbing her arms to try and fend off the cold.

"I take it that this isn't the first time they've done this?"

Bates shook her head. "No sir. Unfortunately, Matthew and Pola are a couple of escape artists. They seem to try and do this every time their class moves outside of the school."

At that moment, Deanna Troi left the young girls that she had been talking to and came over to them. "Excuse me, Captain," she said as she turned her attention to the lieutenant. "Well, Jessica and T'Sari say that they wanted to go back and get a puzzle that they dropped somewhere along the way."

The school principal groaned. "That means they could be anywhere."

A spark of memory put a small, sly smile on the captain's lips. "Actually Lieutenant, I think I might know where your 'escape artists' have gone to."

* * *

Sure enough, Matthew and Pola had snuck their way back up to the observation lounge in search of their Chinese finger puzzle. Pola had originally been carrying it while they chased each other in a game of tag, but it had been abruptly abandoned when their attention turned to the sculptures that sat on the shelf below the figures of previous Enterprises on the wall. But between being busted by the first officer and then coming face-to-face with the captain, it was hours before they remembered it.

"It is not here," Pola said for the tenth time as his companion continued to search the room.

"It has to be!" the young human told him, pulling back each chair just in case the puzzle had rolled off the table and onto the cushions. "Derek Jensen loaned it to me – I have to give him my trading cards if I lose it!"

A thought struck his Vulcan friend. "Perhaps the captain took it back to the bridge with him after we left."

Matthew groaned. Pola's youthful attempts at logic really bothered him sometimes. "He wouldn't. He hates games."

"How do you know that?"

This last comment finally stopped Matthew's search, and he turned to face Pola with his irritation clear. "Because he's the captain! If he played games, they'd never let him steer the ship!" Before Pola could retort, they were suddenly plunged into darkness. "What was that?"

Fear seized the other boy, and steered Matthew to grab his friend by the hand and pull him toward the door. "Come on, we'd better get out of here." But the doors refused to open. They stepped back and tried again, but the doors still wouldn't budge. "What's wrong with them?"

"Perhaps we should try the other doors," Pola suggested, leading the way to the doors on the opposite end of the conference table. But they were no better off there, as the power had been cut to both exits.

"Oh no!" Matthew moaned. "Now what do we do?"

* * *

Lieutenant Bates hated moving through the corridors now that the power had been reduced or shut down through most of the ship. It gave her the creeps. She would have felt better if she'd brought about a hundred people with her, but she also knew it wasn't fair to her colleagues to drag them through the freezing ship just to assuage her own fears. Swallowing hard, it took everything she had not to jump at every perceived shadow that found its way into her peripheral vision.

Being a school teacher and administrator meant that she pretty much stuck to her own areas of the Enterprise. Now, wandering the corridors in search of the observation lounge, she wished that the wall panels were working so they could easily guide her where she needed to go. Instead, she held a tricorder out in front of her, following its map through a few turns until she found the doors she was looking for. Closing the tricorder and putting it back into the compartment on her belt, she exchanged it for a magnetic handle and affixed it to the door panels.

* * *

The sound of a metallic thunk made Matthew's heart jump. "What's that?" he squawked.

Pola, despite the Vulcan teachings he'd already started learning, was just as scared as his friend. A traditional story popped into his head, about a monster that fed on little children who misbehaved. "We must hide!" he whispered, grabbing Matthew and suddenly hauling him down underneath the conference table.

Matthew's heart was racing – Pola's sudden fear was making his own even worse. Their heads both whirled around when the doors they had first tried to leave through started to groan. "Oh no!"

* * *

With a little effort, the inoperative doors slid aside enough for Lieutenant Bates to squeeze through. The glow of the planet through the windows lit the room in an eerie blue light, but she preferred it to the monstrous red emergency lighting that she'd just left. Breathing a little sigh, she started to look around the room for her two escapees. They weren't immediately visible, but it was pretty obvious where they'd gone. One of the chairs had been hastily pushed out of the way, and was still slowly spinning away from the table. She shook her head and smiled, but then put on a serious face as she pulled the chair out of the way and crouched down.

She found the two boys huddled together underneath the table, eyes wide with fear. Giving them a harsh stare, she let them squirm for a few moments before she simply asked, "So?"

There was a green blush on the young Vulcan's cheeks, while his human friend hung his head. "We were looking for my Chinese finger puzzle," Matthew quietly admitted, his eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

"I see." Yolanda let them stew a little bit longer. "And why would your puzzle have been up here?"

It was an even longer pause before Pola answered, "Because we were playing here earlier."

"And then Commander Riker came in and chased us out!" tumbled out of Matthew's mouth, his eyes wide as he rushed through an explanation. "And then the captain came, and he yelled at us and said that he was gonna put us in the brig! And then he called Mister Worf! And then he–"

"Matthew…" their principal warned, in the tone she knew worked on him. His babbling stopped, his gaze falling back to the carpet below. Though she was an experienced schoolteacher, she was having a hard time keeping herself from laughing. "So you're telling me that you've not only broken the rules by sneaking away from your class and going into off-limit areas, but that you've done it twice already today?" They both nodded sullenly, knowing they were busted. Yolanda sighed. "Come on," she ordered, standing back up and waiting until they crawled out into the open. "Mister Jahal is worried about you."

Without another word, she led the two boys back out the open doors and down the corridor. They rode in one of the remaining operational lifts in silence, Bates preferring to let their imaginations run with them as to what she was going to do. About halfway between the turbolift and the multi-purpose area, she was finally ready to announce her sentence. "Matthew, Pola, I'm giving you an assignment. You are going to write a report about why certain areas of starships are off limits."

Pola remained silent, but Matthew was having none of it. "But Miss Bates–"

"No buts!" she cut him off sharply. "You two are going to write a report on why you're not supposed to go into off-limit areas, and…" Bates paused for effect. "You will read the report to your parents, and to Commander Riker." It got the intended effect as the two of them groaned out loud, and she couldn't help but smile from her place walking behind them. "And you two will begin working on your reports when we reach the refuge area."

The doors to the emergency area parted before them, and the pair sullenly made their way over to where Mister Jahal had huddled his class together in the far corner. He was continuing their previous lesson in order to keep their minds on something other than the cold, and he only paused briefly to lay a sharp eye on the escapees as they dropped down to sit on the floor behind their classmates.

Her attention was grabbed when the captain approached her, obviously heading back up to the bridge. All she had to do was glance at the boys and give him a nod to confirm she'd found them where he'd suggested. "Good," he said, breaking into a rare smile as he put a hand on her arm and added, "Thank you," before disappearing back into the corridor.

She came the rest of the way into the room, gratefully accepting the blanket that Deanna Troi placed around her shoulders. Pulling it tightly around herself, she settled down in a spot where she could watch the children and where she hoped she'd be able to warm up. Focusing on finding Matthew and Pola had distracted her from how cold it really was already. With a grimace, she hoped that she would actually be able to enforce the boys' punishment for their little adventure.


	5. Episode 1x06 Where No One Has Gone Befor

**Episode 1x06 – Where No One Has Gone Before**

**By Eydie Munroe**

Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belong to Paramount and CBS. I'm just writing the bits that TPTB seemed to have missed.

Note: This is the missing scene at the end of the episode, after Captain Picard makes Wesley Crusher an acting ensign.

* * *

Captain Picard was firmly ensconced at the desk in his quarters, writing his report on their misadventure into Galaxy M33. The ship didn't seem to be the worse for wear – Argyle had assured him that Kosinski's equations were indeed useless, and hadn't affected the engines at all.

In truth, he wasn't bothered so much by the ship's condition than by his own. Seeing the spectre of his mother had affected him more than he was willing to admit. Maman had been dead for more than twenty years now, the only member of his family that he remembered with any sort of fondness whatsoever. Yvette Picard had been the one to nurture him, to support him and his dreams of joining Starfleet when his father wanted nothing less than for him to carry on the family business. Her image was jarring – even though he consciously knew that she wasn't real, his heart was less willing to let go of her speaking to him. _I miss you, __Maman__,_ he thought.

His musings were cut short by the sound of the door chime. He blinked and drew a short breath, then tugged down on his uniform as he called, "Come."

The doors parted to admit Beverly Crusher, who stepped inside just far enough for them to close behind her. "Am I disturbing you?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Not at all. Come in, please."

She walked around to the front of the desk to take a seat, but noticed the plain white tea set that sat on a tray between them. "Were you expecting somebody?"

Picard smiled a little. "I anticipated that you would be coming to see me, Doctor." He reached for the handle of the teapot. "Would you like some?"

She nodded, sitting down as she watched him pour out a cup, then add a small spoonful of the warmed honey that sat on the tray next to it. Beverly was surprised that he remembered how she took it. Tea had been one of the many things that she and Jean-Luc had bonded over in those rare occasions where Jack was not with the two of them, but that had been more than ten years earlier. "Thank you," she said as she took the cup from him, then leaned back into her chair and crossed her legs, inhaling the scent before taking her first sip.

For his part, the captain knew why she was here, but was nervous about how she was going to react to him. So he decided to start. "You're here because of what I did this afternoon."

"I am," she confirmed, her glass clinking on the saucer in her other hand. "Needless to say, I was a little surprised when Wesley came home and not only told me that he'd been on the bridge again, but that _you_ had made him an acting ensign."

Now he definitely felt uncomfortable. "I apologize for not discussing it with you first."

She wasn't really angry, but Beverly was enjoying keeping him on edge. "You do realize that he already had a full study load before this. This is going to eat up a lot of his free time."

"Free time that, if I'm not mistaken, he already spent studying or quizzing the staff in Engineering," he said, fixing her with a look. Crusher didn't respond, and just peered at him over the rim of her cup as she took another sip of tea. "Would you like me to rescind my order?"

Beverly shook her head. "I'd rather know why you did it."

He'd known she was going to ask, and he had thought long and hard about the Traveller's request that he not repeat what he'd been told to either Wesley or his mother. For the moment, he wasn't comfortable giving the Traveller's mystical explanation to her as his reasoning. "He has great potential," he finally told her as he refilled his own cup.

"He also had great potential yesterday," she pointed out, "but up until a few hours ago, you still referred to him as _the boy_."

Picard's arm stopped in midair, and he grimaced at her plain talk as he replaced the teapot on the tray. "I've seen a lot of good officers come and go over the years," he said, picking up his tea. "The kind that are excellent academics, but don't have the ability to transfer those skills into the field. I thought that, perhaps, giving him shipboard experience prior to his entrance to the Academy might help him to more easily choose the course of study that will best suit him."

Beverly thought a moment. "Jack used to always say he wished he'd been able to spend time on a ship before going to the Academy."

"Exactly." He took another drink, pausing for a bit before quietly observing, "He's very much like his father, Beverly."

She smiled. "You don't have to tell me. There are days when Wesley says something, and I swear, I turn around expecting to find Jack standing there."

His heart panged for her. "It must be hard, having a constant reminder of someone you've lost."

The smile disappeared. "It was, at the beginning. But after a while, it became more of a comfort than anything else."

A long stretch of silence followed, each of them looking anywhere but at the other as they tried to find the right thing to say. Beverly was the one to break it when she gently told him, "Jean-Luc, you don't have to take an interest in Wesley just because he's Jack's son." He looked up sharply from his teacup. "Or because of the reason his father died."

There it was – the elephant in the room. And it wasn't going to be ushered out anytime soon. "Beverly, this isn't the result of some sort of misplaced guilt." Picard sighed. "Well, perhaps a part of it is. But…in the short time that we've been on board, Wesley has proven himself to not only know much of shipboard operations, but to also be observant in ways where the crew has not. I think it would be a travesty to not allow him to continue studying where his interests obviously lay."

She nodded, the grin returning to her face. "I learned a long time ago that when a child is as smart as he is, you have to keep him challenged. Otherwise he gets bored, and that's when you come home to find he's reprogrammed every replicator in the house to give you nothing but toothpaste and artichoke hearts." To Picard's raised eyebrows, she said, "I'll tell you about that sometime." She set her tea down on the desk and stood up. "I do appreciate your interest in him, Jean-Luc. Please don't think that I don't."

He gave her a small smile as he also got to his feet. "Please know that you can come to me at any time if you have questions about the curriculum that Commander Riker is setting up for him. Or if you have any concerns about how he is progressing." Remembering the apology he had made when she first came in, he then added, "We will abide by your wishes in this matter."

Her expression softened to one that he hadn't seen from her in a very, very long time. While Beverly had many friends and kind people in her life, there had only ever been a handful – him, Jack, Walker Keel and Dalen Quaice, her mentor while at medical school – who could ever make her feel that they truly appreciated her needs. "Thank you, Jean-Luc."

"You're welcome."

The captain watched her as she left, then returned to his desk, thinking over what she had said about him trying to make up for sending Jack Crusher to his death. He would try to deny it, but he knew she was absolutely right. The decision to bring Wesley into the bridge crew had been made in the spur of the moment, but afterwards, the explanation had occurred to Picard as well. He still felt responsible – guilty – for leaving Wesley without a father, leaving Beverly a widow, and even for leaving himself without his best friend. Even now, a full decade later, he was still trying to make amends.


	6. Episode 1x07 Lonely Among Us

**Episode 1x07 – Lonely Among Us  
By Eydie Munroe**

Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belong to Paramount and CBS. I'm just writing the bits that TPTB seemed to have missed.

Note: These are the missing scenes after the discovery of the dead Selay delegate, when Miles O'Brien contemplates a job change.

P.S.: To ByaSouthernLady (your private messaging is turned off) – yes, eventually I will write these for the entire series, and possibly even the movies if I ever get that far.

* * *

Miles O'Brien sat at the bar in Ten Forward, nursing the real whiskey that he'd been served on his arrival two hours before.

It had been a hard day.

After his assignment to the Enterprise, he'd quickly grown bored with his conn duties. So he'd decided to switch to Tactical, thinking he might be happier back in an old, familiar role. But whereas on a smaller ship he might have had more significant responsibilities, on the galaxy class Enterprise, Lieutenant Yar had assigned him to little more than bureaucratic babysitting. His latest shift standing guard outside the Antican delegates' quarters had been even more boring – that was, until the head delegate decided to storm up to the bridge to demand an explanation for the ship's sudden turnaround. Fortunately the alien hadn't made it that far, saving O'Brien the embarrassment of the captain and security chief personally seeing that he couldn't control his charges. Unfortunately, the only reason that particular circumstance had been avoided was because of a chance meeting with the Selay ambassador outside their quarters, a second before all hell broke loose.

Miles pulled his shoulders back and did a couple of head rolls, his body still stiff after what had become something akin to a bar brawl. By the time that his backup had arrived, five more Selay had poured out into the corridor. After one of them had managed to lift him and toss him against a bulkhead, they mercilessly tore at the lone Antican, who was inflicting just as much damage as he received. The incident had rewarded O'Brien with a ringing in his ears and an admonishment from Doctor Selar that he should perhaps revisit his hand-to-hand combat training before returning to duty in twenty-four hours.

He was glad for the break – he knew he needed it – but the idea of returning to the same sort of work the day after tomorrow filled him with dread. He was listless and uninterested. Guarding delegates and defending against whatever alien might force themselves onto the ship was not how he saw his future. But his transfer to Tactical had been recent, and he feared that a request for another position would be summarily rejected, with a recommendation from his superior that he 'stick it out' to see if he really liked it.

"This seat taken?"

O'Brien looked up to see Geordi La Forge standing beside him, pointing to the only empty stool in a very busy lounge. "Not at all, sir," he said, gesturing for the newcomer to sit down as he took another pull from his glass, feeling the satisfied burn of alcohol slide down his throat.

La Forge perched himself on the stool, asking for a drink of his own. They both sat in silence for a while, the ship's pilot nodding his thanks when the bartender returned. He looked at Miles as he took his first sip. "You look like a man with a lot of his mind."

Miles grinned a little to himself. He hadn't worked with La Forge much since coming to the Enterprise, but he appreciated the man's straightforward manner. "Yes, sir. You could say that."

"Geordi, please." After taking a sip of his drink, he said, "I heard about what happened with the Anticans and Selay. How's your head?"

"Not bad. But I was seeing stars there for a while."

"I don't doubt that," the pilot chuckled. "There are easier ways to see the stars than someone trying to throw you through a wall."

"Well I've seen them that way too," Miles said, only half in jest, "but I wasn't crazy about it then either."

Geordi caught the edge in the man's voice, despite the efforts to hide it. O'Brien had been one of the many on pilot rotations after the ship left Farpoint Station, but had worked only two shifts before moving over into Tasha Yar's realm. He'd always wondered why. "That's why you switched to Tactical?"

The other man nodded. "Yeah. Sitting at the conn for hours at a stretch wasn't my idea of an exciting life." When the irony of what he'd just said struck him, O'Brien couldn't help but huff a laugh. "Now it's a little too exciting." They fell into silence, each staring down into their drinks for a while. Eventually, Miles asked, "You ever feel like you're just spinning your wheels?"

Geordi fiddled with his glass. "All the time." When he saw his companion looking at him, he explained, "I took all the courses at the Academy. Did all the practice runs…lived and breathed flying. Thought it was the only thing I ever wanted to do." He took another sip, forming his thoughts. "When I was an ensign, I was assigned to pilot Captain Picard for an inspection tour. We got to talking, and he mentioned that he thought the engines' efficiency was off." Now he couldn't help but chuckle. "I was so embarrassed that he'd noticed, I pulled an all-nighter refitting the fusion initiators. That's how seriously I took my job."

Miles waved at the bartender to order another round. "And now?"

"Now that I've got the dream job…it's not enough." His companion sighed. "Something's still missing."

"I know what you mean," O'Brien agreed, watching as the fresh drinks were put down in front of them. "I just wish I knew what that was."

"Well, at least we're in a good place to find out." Geordi picked up his glass and was about to drink, then changed his mind and held it out to Miles. "To new opportunities."

They clinked glasses, each taking another swallow of their drink and feeling slightly better knowing that they weren't the only one on the Enterprise who was contemplating a career change.


End file.
